Sci-Fi Channel to Pick Up John Doe

KrayzieKyd writes "The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing 'John Doe', another dead series that premiered with cult hit Firefly. It features a man with no memory of who he is but, but somehow has infinite knowledge. With his gift, he solves crimes which are hinted through his monochromatic sight with color. The show will re-premiere Friday, Jan 20 at 9pm ET." It's raining new shows on Sci-Fi, apparently.

Now

[OverlordQ]

If only somebody could convince Sci-Fi to stop making a new 'oh no monster' craptastic movie each month, and instead maybe make a couple really good ones a year.

Cliffhanger

[pantropik]

The series ended with a cliffhanger (first season finale), which I've always thought is a pretty nasty thing to do to your audience, not that I'd expect anything better from Fox. I watched it the first time around in tandem with Firefly and was looking forward to some payoff in the second season, but I can't see a reason to watch it again knowing there will never be a payoff at all. You can bet Sci-Fi won't mention that when they are promoting it.

I used to watch it

[Kohath]

The most noteworthy thing about this show is how it's exactly like "The Pretender".

Re:John Doe brought down Firefly

[pantropik]

A consistent schedule, at least a nod toward marketing the show and maybe one or two episodes being shown in the proper order might have helped, too. I actually liked John Doe ... it was like "X-Files & The Pretender: What if they mated?"

Re:John Doe brought down Firefly

[luna69]

You're right - FF was done a huge disservice by the people who put the lineup together. Well-written, character-driven SF on TV *can* be successful (e.g., BsG), but not if it's put in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a shame, because the writing was great, the cast was obviously in sync, and there was plenty of room for storyline growth.

Oh well.

What will happen, eventually -- Hollywood is going to have to be dragged into the future kicking and screaming -- is that we will move away from this broadcast delivery model in which we are expected to watch shows at specific times. Once the whole issue of how money changes hands gets worked out, things will progress rapidly, I think - witness the popularity of TiVO and its copycats. As long as content producers can find a way to get paid, they'll be on board...and it may turn out that when people can watch whatever they want, whenever they want, that shows like FF have more of a shot at building an audience.

Of course then marketing shows to the public becomes an issue: in the broadcast model, there are only so many channels, and only so many hours in the day. This limits the pool of competitors for eyeballs. When people can choose from a wider array of content and watch it on their terms, profits can be diluted, competition can be fiercer for eyeball loyalty, etc.

On a related note: if I could, I would gladly pay a nominal fee to watch serial shows like BsG, FF, etc. without commercials. If I could buy access to what amounts to about 40 minutes of actual content, skip the commercials, and see the show in high def, I'd GLADLY pay the content producers.

The Fox Friday Rerun Channel

[Ray Radlein]

I eagerly await the remainder of their backwards trek through Fox's collection of excellent prematurely-cancelled Friday night shows. Firefly and John Doe, check: How long before they work their way back to Strange Luck [imdb.com] and VR.5 [imdb.com]?

now...

[Anonymous Coward]

they need to pick up dark angel.

re-premier???

[advocate_one]

surely a contradiction in one word... I think the word we are looking for here is "repeat"...

Sci-Fi Channel, R.I.P.

[dada21]

I think we need to see this one go away.

We're geeks. We like to be ahead of the game. We like it our way, hold the ketchup and the onions, thank you very much.

In-your-face, take it or leave it TV is dead, or it should be. The horse is beaten, the flies have eaten, it's time to bury it. A la carte TV is so 90's, even if it wasn't really available. The iTunes format is cool. but it isn't quite what we need or want.

AKIMBO is cool, but I'm sure it's plagued with lame shows and whatever "it isn't open source" problems people have with it.

So the answer is where should we go next? I'd love to see viewer funded "television" -- maybe geek television at its finest. Firefly, BsG, hell, even bring back Monty Python with a newer funnier cast. Give us an option -- tell us how much it will cost, how many episodes we can assume to be paying for, ask us what video formats we'd like to see, and then do it. Start a website or a blog or whatever we need to find you. Let us pay for it, in advance, with a contract stipulating some refund if you don't meet the requirements.

I'll put up $500 of my own money, right now, for Firefly to come back. I'd pay $500 for 2 guaranteed seasons (22 episodes per season). I'd cancel cable TV in a heartbeat (I bet we're paying over $1000 a year) and put that money towards 6 or 8 good shows, a la carte. Film them in Canada, give the actors a piece of the action (call them producers, skip the unions) and let's find some good TV. I can't handle anything aimed at the mainstream (maybe L&O: CI on occasion) anymore.

There are 1 million people coming to /. this week (or more?) $50 a year per user is $50 million. This is enough to get 20 shows going for a year.

Why are we still talking about Sci-Fi again, we have money, let's use it. Any 10 of you want to match my $500 and get something started?

Re:Lemon Curry?

[thunderbee]

BLASPHEMER!!!

True. Tie him to the comfy chair, and poke him with the soft cushion!

pretender

[chigun]

wasn't this show on NBC before, except called The Pretender?

Re:I Don't know who sci-fi channel's audience is

[bill_mcgonigle]

Asking him all of these mundane questions was pretty cool. The DOS thing though, eck.

The point was to ask an impossible question and have him answer it. Hence something mystical/futuristic was at foot.